Our favorite fall recipe...

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

I made these this morning (it's not the first time this fall ;-) and I thought I'd share them with you. They are easy and are so good!

1 1/2 cups flour (whole wheat works great too)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp salt
" baking powder
" baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves (or I subsitute pumpkin pie spice)

*mix all above dry ingrediants together then add:

8 ounces or 1 cup canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter...or you can add 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup applesauce (it's healthier and takes just as good)

*mix it all together and then add about 1/2 bag of chocolate chips or 3/4 a cup....sorry Kristen! I know you can't eat chocolate, but they taste really good without the choc. chips too!

Topping (optional for more gourmet looking and more calories):

mix 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour and a tsp. of butter with a fork until crumbly.

Put muffin mixture into muffin pan and sprinkle topping on each one then bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes. I hope you enjoy!

Our weekend with Tom's parents...and little brother Mike

Last weekend Tom's mom and dad and brother came from Utah to visit. We had a lot of fun with them. They got here on Friday evening and we had pizza and visited and then on Saturday we drove to Manitou Springs for the annual Emma Crawford Coffin race. It was really amusing! There were several different teams of people all dressed up, usually in a theme like the "fat Elvi", the beverly hillbillies (who won 1st), Gilligan's island, etc., etc. They also created a coffin to match their theme and then two by two raced down the main strip in Monitou Springs pushing their coffin. We think it would be fun to enter next year. Maybe we could make a boy scout themed coffin....Tom's only concern is that some of the guys he works with may not be able to run more then 10 yards... :-) We spent a little while walking around downtown Monitou Springs looking at some of the fun shops and art galleries and then drove to Garden of the Gods (it's right next door from where we were) and went on a little hike. Then that night we went to our church's halloween party (a chili cookoff and trunk or treat) which was a lot of fun. Taylor dressed up as a pink teddy bear. After that we watched a nancy drew movie from the 1930's that Tom and I think is really funny.

On Sunday after church we all went to the dog park with Maddie and then took his parents by Tom's work place so they could see where he worked. Monday, all of us except Tom who had to work did a little book and Christmas shopping and then that evening we played some games and hung out. And then his parents left early Tuesday morning. It was so nice for them to come and see us and we really enjoyed the time together. Here are some pictures that we took on Saturday.

Taylor and Grandma This was right before the race begun. In this picture you can see two of the coffins. There had to be someone riding in the coffin...it was usually a small, light female and they all had to wear helmets.
This team was pretty funny, especially the guy with the white headband and huge mustache. He was acting the part of a gym buff from the seventies really well. I wish you could've seen him.
Taylor loves to walk this way with Tom and I.
Taylor with her dad and Grandpa. She was having lots of fun getting swung.

Pics from our trip...LOTS of them!

Well, these are VERY out of order. I could've taken the time to figure out how to upload them so they'd be in order....oh well. I'll just try to add captions. These first pics are the Sunday morning after we got back. The next two are at the Old Timer Days in Benton, Arkansas...the town my parents live in.
Taylor found a dog that reminded her of Maddie....on our way home we swung by our friends' home and picked Maddie up, took her right inside to the bathtub and gave her a really thorough bath (she'd been outside for almost 3 weeks straight) and then once she was able to roam around Taylor kept giving her hug after hug....it was so funny, but she was so excited to be with Maddie again.
Taylor playing the piano with Grandpa at my parents house.
This was at a rest stop on our way home....Tom likes changing Taylor in the grass....hey, just as long as he does it! :-)
like I said they're way out of order....sorry! This was the Sunday morning after we got home. It was supposed to be a cold day and it snowed about 2-3 inches...it was gone within 24 hours. That's the kind of snow I like! :-) Pretty and it melts quickly!

this was at the Texas State Fair.
Texas State Fair...Taylor and Tom watching a fun parade.
Taylor trying her first funnel cake. She liked it!
This was right after Tom surprised us by arriving to my parents early. Taylor was so excited to see her Daddy, she just layed in his arms for a long time and let him cuddle her.
At the park near my parents house.

This was day 3 on our trip. Misti and I took our girls to the mall and this was Taylor riding her first carousel....getting a little dizzy! :-)
Taylor and Misti's son Carter and daughter Keeton in the backseat. Carter looks thrilled to be in between two little girls!
At Bruce and Misti's...Keeton had this little stroller and Taylor pushed it around all day, everyday so I went to Toys R Us and got her her own and now she pushes it around our house, pushing 3 jars of peanut butter (she has her own cabinet full of peanut butter) all the other cabinets our mine) :-)
bathtime...
back at the Texas State Fair...hope you enjoyed the pictures! I hope you have a great weekend too!

Our 4th anniversary...

The day before we left for our trip (Sept. 27th) was our four year anniversary. Tom had been talking about wanting to get a piano for a really long time and I had started contemplating the idea of surprising him with one and having it sitting in our home when he got back from work. So, while my mom was here we went to a piano store that was having a huge closing sale and I found this older piano for a lot less than I was planning on spending. I arranged to have it delivered the morning of our anniversary while he was at work and it was so fun to get it all ready for him to come home and find it.

Tom's anniversary surprise...

I set up our video camera to capture Tom's expression when he came home from work to find a piano. He was really shocked and excited, but it's a little hard to tell on this video. It was fun gift to surprise him with and it is so great getting to hear him play it.

The rest of our trip (part one)...

Well, we had a great trip but it was so long! Two weeks and 5 days and we spent 5 days traveling. We had a lot of fun though. The second weekend we got to spend together in Dallas. On the Friday night (Oct. 5th) Tom's training group was taken to the Texas State Fair and his trainer invited Taylor and I to come along. So we drove to Tom's hotel that afternoon and we got on a big charter bus with all of Tom's fellow trainees and some of the other trainers and their families. It was fun to meet all the people he had been working with all week. They were all so nice. His main trainer Eric passed out tickets and coupons (they use coupons at this fair for rides and to buy food with) and he gave Tom an extra ticket for me and gave us 40 or 50 dollars in coupons. I like the Boy Scouts! Anyway, we had so much fun and it was great to be with Tom again after being apart for almost a week. That weekend we stayed at a hotel close to Tom's training and enjoyed having a relaxing weekend being together. Then on Sunday we drove a couple hours north of Dallas to meet my mom and Taylor and I rode back with her to Benton, Arkansas and Tom went back to his training.

It was nice to spend time at my parents. They (my parents and little sister) all adored Taylor and gave her tons of attention which she loved. Taylor and I went on lots of walks and my mom and I spent a lot of time together. I got to do some shopping without Taylor (which is nice to be able to focus a little better) and I got my hair done. It's a little shorter and darker. And my mom and I went fabric shopping to get material to make Taylor some curtains. (Tom just put them up tonight and they look great mom! We'll have to see how well they work to keep the sun out!) Then on Friday Tom's training got out at 3:00 which I thought was crazy b/c traffic gets bad in Dallas around 3:30 and is even worse on a Friday, but around 3:30 Tom was calling to tell me he had just met our friend Bruce to give him back all the clothes he had to borrow from him (refer to bottom post--thanks again Bruce!) While we were talking I put the phone close to Taylor and Tom started saying "Taylor can you hear me?" and the second time he said it I heard his voice in real life not through the phone and looked all around the room we were in and there was Tom standing at the back window! I was so excited!!! I was hoping he'd gotten to leave early, but he'd said he didn't get to so I thought we wouldn't see him until around 9:00 that night. It was the best surprise! It was great to spend the rest of the day together and we let my parents babysit and went out to dinner that night. Okay, this is getting long so I'll finish it tomorrow and add some pictures...well, hopefully I'll get to it tomorrow!

little update...

We left for our trip last Friday afternoon and drove 6 hours to Amarillo, TX on one tank of gas! We love our little 4 cylinder car! We stayed the night in Amarillo and then drove another 6 hours the next day to my friends here in McKinney, TX. It was a great drive. We listened to 1/2 (we have 1/2 left for our way home) of a John Grisham suspense novel...I can't wait to find out who the murderer is! Is was fun b/c the story takes place in a small town in Oklahoma and we spent all of our trip driving through small towns. We stopped midway through and found a great little authentic BBQ restaurant and had BBQ beef, ribs, potato salad and baked beans. I loved the whole "small town" experience. Taylor was really great on the trip. She probably slept for about 4 of the 12 hours we drove, but the last couple hours she was content b/c I let her eat nerds (the candy...if anyone needs clarification :-) that I put in her cupholder. She loved it and was great!

We came straight to my friends Bruce and Misti and stayed here with them that night and went to church with them and then Tom got ready for his training...Oh yeah, we did run into a minor inconvenience...On Friday night around midnight Tom realized he had forgotten all of his clothes for his training like his suit, dress shirts, boy scout uniform and they had to bring this special "dress uniform" which consisted of gray slacks, white shirt and a navy blazer. He had everything all ready to go but we both forgot it! So, thankfully Bruce and Tom wear the same pant size and Bruce is a scout leader so he and Misti stepped in and saved the day and let Tom borrow a ton of much needed clothes!

So, I've been staying here with Bruce and Misti ( hendrens.blogspot.com ) and their two cute kids and it's been so great to see them and hang out with Misti so much. They've been so kind and hospitable to Taylor and I. We are here until tomorrow afternoon and then Taylor and I are going to Tom's hotel to meet up with him and spend the weekend together. On Sunday we are going to meet my mom about a couple hours away and Taylor and I will go with her back to little Rock while Tom finishes his training. Well, that's that! Taylor just woke up so I better go. Have a great day!

Here Dad....

My dad checks this site everyday to see if there are any new pictures....and as you all know I am pathetic at blogging regularly so there never are...but here are some we took just recently while my mom has been here visiting.... We tried to get a good family shot at the park and Taylor was not too keen on the idea...
This one was one of our better besides my eyes look weird and it's pretty fuzzy b/c our camera isn't the greatest. Oh and Tom thinks he looks pretty weird too.
Maddie was barking at us while we were taking our family pics b/c I'm sure she was feeling left out. We were going to try to take a couple with her but Taylor was to fussy so we didn't ever bother. This was right after we took her to the dog park...
These pics are out of order...sorry. This is Taylor taking a snooze yesterday on our way to the airport to drop off my mom.

Taylor was caught redhanded going through everything in my purse...Actually, Tom was sitting on the couch watching her the whole time but was too tired to do anything about it b/c it was at the crack of dawn one morning last week...
Taylor and Tom at the dog park...
us again trying to get our picture...
Ahhh...one happy little family (Taylor just happens to be screaming her head off at the moment) :-)

Our water drinking, little trendsetter. You just wait and you'll be seeing all the celebrities wearing dog collars for belts!
And if we every lose her our cell phone numbers are conveniently listed on the tag! It was so funny b/c she would try to put it around her waist and we finally put in on for her and she wanted to wear it for hours!
I don't know if this trend will ever take off though...a bowl for a hat? good try Taylor!
So, we've really enjoyed having my mom here for a few days and our next adventure is leaving on Friday for Dallas. We're driving there for Tom's 12 day training. We are all staying with my friends on Saturday and then Tom's training starts Sunday evening. Taylor and I aren't sure what we'll do quite yet while he's at it but eventually we'll head up to Little Rock to stay with my parents. Then when Tom's training is over he'll drive up there and we'll all spend a few days before heading back here. Whew! We'll be gone for almost 3 weeks! Our fourth anniversary is on Thursday....I love our anniversaries. Unfortunately though Tom has a meeting Thursday evening so we'll probably go out to lunch or something and then celebrate it more officially while we're in Arkansas so we can leave Taylor with the grandparents and spend the night in Hot Springs or something. Well, other than that we've just been trying to get our new home organized, keeping up with Taylor (did I ever say that she walks now?) And she's fast! (see video below. hopefully it'll work and it is a little boring but my dad will appreciate it.) She's been at it for about 4 weeks now. It's pretty darn cute but she's into everything!!! I hope you're doing well and I'll try to be a little better at this blog but I won't promise anything while we're traveling! Have a great day!!!

The house hunt is off....

Sorry I haven't posted anything in so long. I've been really bad at emailing and everything so I am sorry if I still haven't emailed you back yet either! Well, we found a house and put an offer on it. They rejected it. We put in another offer (in the back of my mind I was hoping it would be rejected too) but they accepted it. So, we had a contract. But after we went to the bank (the interest rate had risen a little) and we went over our finances (for the 10th time) and just kept feeling not very good about buying this house. So, we got out of the contract and have decided to just rent an apartment for a while longer. We don't know how long we'll be here. Tom could be promoted in as little as 2 or so years, so we'll just see what happens. But, for now we'll just take a nice long break from house hunting (it has not been the most fun, exciting experience) and we've found a 3 bedroom apartment for quite a bit less than if we'd bought a house and half of our utilities are covered so we are hoping to save some money and buy a house someday when we feel like the time is right. We're glad that we didn't get into this home though, b/c there was a lot of work that needed to be done and it would've really stretched us thin. Probably too thin. We are moving into our apartment on Friday and are really looking forward to finally unpacking and having more room.

Of course I have to dote on my little lady while I am writing...Taylor is doing great and is as sweet and cute as ever! She is very good at walking while holding onto something, but only takes a few steps on her own. I just know she'll be walking all the time soon so I've come to grips with it. (I've been in no hurry for her to walk) She LOVES waving and saying hi to people. It is so cute and funny and I love it when people say hi back. She also loves to recline on Maddie (our dog). Maddie is frequently found laying on her side and Taylor will go over to her and lean back against her belly with her arms resting on Maddie's legs. And one of our favorite things she does...she gives us kisses. We usually have to kiss each other to clue her in and then she'll lean to one of us, kiss us and then (very fairly) lean to the other and kiss them. And, sometimes she'll do this 3-4 times in a row.

Other news? Tom has been really busy with scouts. The fall is they're most busy time b/c they go to lots of meetings for recruitment. Some nights he has 2 or 3 meetings. I'm just glad it only last for a couple of months and consider all the other great aspects of his job like the fact that he enjoys it and it's very flexible and he has great bosses. So, some evenings Taylor and I go along and grocery shop or walk around the mall so Taylor can tell people hi. Our anniversary is coming up next month and we're excited to celebrate it and Tom has a big training in Texas the first of October and we're all going with him. That's really all of our news. Not too exciting, but we're happy and doing well. I hope you are as well! Have a great rest of your week!

I don't want to let you down Misti! :-)

My good friend from Texas just "tagged" me so I'm supposed to post 7 random facts about me:

1: I enjoy watching black and white classic movies while cuddling with my husband.

2: I am a really good window shopper! I talk myself out of 99% of things I think about buying.

3: I used to travel across the country (by plane) all the time presenting leadership conferences for FFA, but now I don't really like to fly/travel anywhere.

4: I love the thought of Italy: jazzy, romantic music, the language ( I own a "learn Italian in your car" cd series), the food, the architecture and the Italian countryside ( I don't think I'll ever have the guts to fly there) but it's great in my dreams!

5: Speaking of Italy, I lived and worked with girls from Italy, Croatia, Australia and Tonga on my mission in SLC.

6: I have six brothers and 9 brother in laws and 31 nieces and nephews....that's all!

7: My Dad is a Nuclear Medicine doctor and my Father in law is a Rocket Scientist...and both Tom and I are not very good test takers! Where did those genes go! :-)

So, there you go Misti! :-) And, now I am tagging Michelle, Kristen and Marion "Mathew Buckley" Jensen!